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Remembering 1882

On Saturday, May 6th, several hundred protestors gathered in San Francisco’s historic Portsmouth Square in Chinatown carrying such signs as “Remember 1882” and “2017 Has Become 1882.”

They were there to mark the 135th anniversary of the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first law implemented to exclude a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the U.S. It was one of the most shamefully racist pieces of legislation ever enacted in America and was repealed in 1943.

The crowd and speakers at the event drew parallels between the 1882 legislation, which was passed in an ugly outburst of nativism and was signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur, and the current administration’s proposed travel bans, barring of refugees, and immigration raids.

The Rev. Fong’s remarks were proceeded by a pair of playful lion dancers, who wove in and out of the crowd before making their way up to the podium. There were also folk singers, and protestors in wheelchairs carrying signs reflecting the internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s.

Portsmouth Square, the site where the American flag was first raised in San Francisco in 1846, is normally filled with men huddled around cards laid out on cardboard boxes and Chinese music. I’ve walked through it often over the past few years as I’ve researched my new book.

It is well worth visiting both places – Portsmouth Square and the Historical Society – if only to remember philosopher George Santayana’s warning that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Signs at the May 6, 2017 Rally for Inclusion in San Francisco’s Chinatown: the Tule Lake jersey the sign carrier is wearing is a reference to the Japanese internment camp.